NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, that for now the countries of the alliance do not have an understanding when Ukraine will be able to join the organization.
„I cannot say exactly when Ukraine will become a member of NATO. But we are helping Ukraine to reach a situation where the necessary conditions for this will be created, he said in an interview with the British magazine The Economist. According to him, Ukraine must meet NATO's technical standards and improve its "interoperability" with the alliance.
Furthermore, Stoltenberg emphasized that the admission of Ukraine to NATO will require the political will of the leadership of the member countries of the organization. According to him "at a certain stage" NATO leaders may agree to Ukraine's entry.
"When you make such decisions in NATO, you need consensus. The consent of most countries is not enough, but of all countries. Now we don't have such a consensus“, the NATO Secretary General admitted.
In September 2022, Ukraine applied for accelerated accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. NATO adopted the final statement from the Vilnius summit on July 11, 2023, in which it expressed confidence that the country's future lies in the alliance. An invitation to join NATO could be extended to Ukraine "when the allies reach an agreement and the conditions imposed on Kiev by the West are met," the document said. The likely time of acceptance was not announced. The organization has repeatedly emphasized that joining NATO is impossible while Ukraine is in a state of conflict.